This makes me very pleased! I’m glad you enjoyed the stage scene. As with the tabletop game, with it we knew we were simultaneously walking the line of what LiS could do and still be LiS and also making something special and memorable. The improv section on stage is probably my favorite moment in whole series (as it happens, I had very little to do with it). A very intimate, private, vulnerable conversation going on in the most public of places! As some of the fans picked up, their improvised dialogue is (unrealistically) in iambic pentameter.
I won’t say anything about episode 3, except I hope you guys enjoy it!
Hmm… have to be honest… the post-credit ending. Going to be many unhappy people.
I fee like it … ended on the … less perfect emotional note. Episode 2 had so much potential and… we hvað so many unanswered questions. There’s a lot of stuff going on here that just got left hanging. It’s tough - they’re 16 years old; running away is just fantasy.
Wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to give everyone an option for alternate, non-deterministic ending. Though i don’t know what the terms of the farmout were.
Thinking about it some more i think the basic problem i have is that the parallels with her mom and all the fire stuff, both literal and figurative, seems to show that Rachel is a wildfire that’s “the problem” that Chloe should avoid. And then Rachel gets murdered, for hanging around the wrong people. I.E., she dies, and its kind of her own fault. Not… super pumped about that implication of all that symbolism now.
The final episode felt like they were pressed for time and wrapped things up as best they could, but not entirely as they would have wanted. Still one of my favorite games of the year on the strength of the second episode.
BtS is pretty great, but 3 definitely feels off compared to 2, esp. since 2 is the best episode of the series and 3, maybe, is the worst (although looking for bottles in the dream sequence in S1E5 is the worst sequence of the game). I’m tore up sitting at work, trying to get everyone ready without choking up. Fell asleep on the couch and got up around 4am.
Wish I hadn’t finished this before Christmas, i’m going to be a wreck for the holidays now. Going to a funeral in a few hours as well. Man.
The Crow is Chloe’s dad’s spirit.
Rachel is somehow connected to the fire? After she was stabbed, the fire went out.
The last choice doesn’t do anything. I think the source of my disappointment. It’s all Sturm und Drang. The last choice in LiS 1 couldn’t have been more dramatic. I don’t expect that but… i expected something to be different. It’s like choosing eggs and spam or spam and eggs for breakfast.
I’m looking forward to starting this in earnest tonight. I played the beginning of the first episode (up to the D&D session), but then decided to hold off all three were out.
I assume the episodes are around the same length as before, so about 9-ish hours for the whole thing?
Yea, it’s about that. I think maybe a bit longer if you poke around more in Episode 3, which i didn’t.
I might need to buy this game for some people here. Never drink alone! If you’re reading this and want a copy, PM with the platform of your choice and i’ll see what i can do ^^.
I think i’m better with Episode 3 now. There’s a lot going on there and it felt rushed. Sheesh, these games rile me up.
You’re certainly not the only one with some of those criticisms, and I think I’d even agree that for a number of reasons things can feel rushed in Ep3. Is that “intensity!” or is that “imperfect pacing”? I understand if people land on the latter.
As far as the theoretical “alternate timeline” happy ending, of course it’s very natural for fans to want something like that, especially the creative ones who enjoy building their own fictions for these characters (which is super awesome), but it was never ever our approach. We felt strongly that a beautiful love story could be told against the backdrop of inevitable tragedy. And we wanted to honor the original game’s story and characters, not undermine them. (There were no absolute restrictions from the publisher, btw.)
Oh, and sorry that the timing of playing our episode was rough for you, Enidigm.
Boy, I could listen to this menu music loop for hours. Totally nailed the vibe of Chloe and fits right in with the original (which has one of my favorite game scores) while still feeling unique.
So I did finally wrest control of the TV to myself for a bit last night, got maybe halfway through the episode I think. Anyway, final impressions will have to wait but I wanted to give a couple initial impressions, two big laughs I got quite unexpectedly.
First came at the moment you’re given control of Chloe, in Rachel’s room trying to comfort her. Chloe says something like, “I should probably let Rachel know I’m here for her.” Then I got a screen prompt to hit left trigger to monitor in-game objectives. I do so dutifully, then Chloe raises her left hand, on her palm is scrawled, “Be there for Rachel.” I laughed.
Second unexpected laugh is during Chloe’s dream sequence, the really well done moment when she is reenacting the play but through the events of her father’s death. At the end you hear a distant truck horn, dad says, that’s my cue. Chloe starts to freak, dad says don’t worry, it’s all pretend. Then an actual truck slams through, Chloe screams and it’s all very intense. Then a beat, and Victoria Chase stands and yells, “Booooo!” I laughed pretty damn hard.
And I did indeed wrap up the game last night, really happy with the way that went. I liked this episode more than the second one, about as much as the first, and overall big success! Definitely worth everyone’s time and money. It seemed odd at first, going back to the same people and location but without rewinding, but it worked so great! I really enjoyed spending more time with Rachel and Chloe, it was almost like that old show My So-Called Life, in that it reminded me of the high drama that teenage-ness carries. Everything is huge and has meaning. There’s no town-threatening storm this time, but the stakes are high to these girls, in their own way.
I won’t spoil anything, but I did like how at the end it faked me out with that happy ending montage before that final phone stinger. I played the game happy that these two found each other but always knowing that their ending isn’t happy. I like that the game honored their relationship but didn’t forget where the first game would end up.
Also curious about that last choice, how people went. I tried to roleplay as Chloe at all times, make the choices that felt right to her, so in a way the ending I went with felt kind of like a no-brainer. But I think a good case could be made either way, and I did have to really stop and ponder.
Anyway my hat’s off to you and your team, @Nightgaunt, you pulled off something that didn’t seem possible, equaling the material that came before in quality but in an interesting new way. I hope you all have big success and recognition, and I’m curious to see what you’ll do next.
Episode 3 feels a bit disjointed and could have used some better editing. Things like the Eliot encounter were not necessary and just broke the pacing a bit. Overall, this game borrows much of its impact from knowing what happens in the original LiS. Still it is a good game in its own right even if it does not reach the same heights as the first.
That final scene however was a massive and unnecessary gut punch. That was pretty much a FU to the audience.
You needn’t apologize for anything! Though i appreciate it. I thought almost-live blogging my reactions befitted BtS.
On reflection I am unsure now if i find the final episode uncomfortable because of pacing or intensity. The over-the-top scenes with starting with the DA’s office, Eliot and Damon felt strange and so different from the rest of the game.
I liked the resolution of Chloe’s dream-dad sequences though I’m still not entirely sure how to interpret their mixing up the subconscious and prophetic and unsure if it’s completely consistent. It seems like during the Eliot confrontation Chloe can accept or reject her subconscious worries about Rachel.
I wonder if it’s not so much fantasizing for a happy ending as not wanting to allow the characters to make decisions that would possibly lead to that happy ending. It feels like in your humility to remain faithful to the original story you missed being faithful to the stories and characters of your own. These are as much your characters now as dontnod’s or Square Enix; and their stories are no longer exactly the same. The dilemma posed by the last choice in the game (tell Rachel or not) is so metatextual it nearly drove me to pull out my hair.
Only because you and Deck Nine made me care about these characters!
I chose to tell the truth, but i have to admit the actual differences between the two choices were so inconsequential that my disappointment with the endings is a conclusion i don’t believe will change over time. Which is heartbreaking to me for a game i fell in love with.
My spoiler’ed comments aside, i agree as well! I am eager to see your next projects and see a bright future for you and your company!
Thanks for playing it, everybody, and for sharing your thoughts. Hope others get a chance to play in the future and share their thoughts and criticisms here when they do!
I have reason to believe @tomchick might be about to take a trip to Arcadia Bay, so if he doesn’t bounce off it before getting to BTS, maybe we’ll hear his thoughts too.
Hey, I just finished Before the Storm and here is a comment I wrote on another site:
When Before the Storm was announced, words like cashgrab or cow milking came to mind. “Unnecessary” prequel, from another studio to boot? Who wants this?
Fortunately with playing Before the Storm, two things came to light pretty quickly:
Deck Nine are apparently huge fans of the original
Deck Nine have, contrary to my expectations, talented writers (and programmers, designers, artists)
Before the Storm is shorter (around 11 hours) and less expansive in general. Chloe obviously doesn’t have any supernatural ability (well, apart from arguing with everyone around her when necessary), but that’s ok. The emphasis is on the “mundane” stuff, like human relationships (yes, like in the original), here mainly with her new friend Rachel, the enigmatic character from LiS. Deck Nine did her justice and made every interaction between them lot of fun. However, knowing beforehand what will actually eventually happen to both Rachel and Chloe gives BtS a very tragic feeling overall.
After finishing it I feel that not only is Before the Storm not an unnecessary prequel, but in fact it retroactively enhanced by experience of the main game as well. Which I think is the greatest possible compliment I can give it.
